Boot Your Car Computer on a Schedule

To get your in-car computer to do work when
the car isn’t on, you’ll need to get it booting on a schedule.

OnStar, a service that comes preinstalled with certain
U.S. vehicles, allows you to call a live person over a hands-free
cellular connection to obtain a variety of concierge services, such as
reservations, directions, and roadside assistance. One of the features
of the OnStar computer is that, if you get locked out of your car, you
can call them, and within 10 minutes they can unlock your car by sending
a code to your OnStar system. You have to wait 10 minutes because this
is how often the OnStar computer turns on to “phone home,” making itself
available to the OnStar mother ship through a cellular network.